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I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with me. I have read so many books that people say "You either love it or hate it," yet I feel indifferent (or I slightly like or dislike it). Bukowski is the first writer I've seen described that way, and for a long time, I agreed. I agreed because I despised his poetry and wanted nothing to do with it.
However, I decided to give it another chance, just to solidify my opinion. It didn't hurt that the Kindle edition of Love is a Dog From Hell was on sale for a buck or two a while back. So, I bought it and never touched it until a few days ago when I was searching through all my owned books for some poetry to read.
Now that I've actually read an entire collection of his poetry, I think I like Bukowski. I don't love his writing and he isn't even on my list of my top ten favorite poets, but I don't hate it, either.
I won't claim to "get" his poetry because there's no way of knowing if I do or do not. I hate analyzing literature and poetry, trying to pick out what the writer was "really trying to say" like we had to do for high school and college English classes. I will say that I enjoyed most of it, which surprises me. I'm fonder of more traditional poetry, usually. That's probably why I hated the first Bukowski poems I was exposed to. It wasn't the subject matter (which seems to be an issue for some people), but I still feel conflicted about his style. I don't hate it, but I can't really say I like it.
If you've never read Bukowski, give him a shot. Maybe you'll love his style, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll hate it. But, you won't know until you try reading it. If you're like me, maybe you'll hate it at first, then later decide it isn't so bad.
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Excellent work by one of the most important poets of the 20th century. Bukowski is honest to a fault. It is unsparing in the gritty details of his life.
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As I read Love Is A Dog From Hell, I put little marks in the table of contents next to my favorite poems. I also drew next to my favorite lines in individual poems. Normally I'd use notes to keep place in a book, but a Bukowski collection asks to be written on.
What is to to review anything by Charles Bukowski? Even in his so-called 'persona' he was a misogynistic, curmudgeonly old bastard. I found this aspect of him soured much of my reading. At the same time, there's meaning in a lot of his poems—but he saves it for the end, almost like a punchline, and in page after page, it started to wear thin. Then, mysteriously, it would start working again.
This book of poems is too big. None of it has the impression of being edited, curated, or anything other than vomited out. It's mostly a continuous ranting and rambling in verse form; sometimes it hits home, sometimes it works well and is meaningful, but mostly it's a stream of noise.
And, yet, I found myself smiling every few pages, or feeling a tug inside somewhere akin to 'emotion'.
I don't think I'd sing Bukowski's praises if asked, or even recommend his collections to anyone, but this book echoed inside me often enough that I'm left with a good feeling. I almost feel like Bukowski cheated: he saved the best poem for the end, the one that felt the most like poetry, and it left me reeling almost enough to bump myself up another star. "I am bitter sometimes", he says, "but the taste has often been / sweet. it's only that I've / feared to say it. it's like / when your woman says / "tell me you love me," and/ you can't"
Overall, while a bit of a slog, I enjoyed Love Is A Dog From Hell.Read more ›
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